Untitled from Alisha Harris on Vimeo.

Bismarck house

We are renting this house until the Gillette one sells and then plan to buy this one. It was a huge blessing to be able to rent until we are ready to buy and not have to move twice or live in an apartment. Now I just need the other house to sell soon. Here are some pictures. There are quite a few so enjoy. I have never felt the need to show off a new home before, but someone has been asking to see what it looks like so here you go Robyn.

From the front door into the living room.

Still from the front door.

From the opposite end of the house looking toward the front.

To the side of the kitchen is the laundry walk through and entrance from the garage and hallway to the master bedroom and other bedroom.

Master bathroom and walk-in closet.

A very empty baby room next to the master bedroom.

These are the only two rooms upstairs.

To the downstairs.

Those boxes are waiting for someone to buy or build a bookshelf.

Empty family room downstairs.

Those boxes are waiting for someone to decide if their contents are important or not.

This picture is taken from the front of the treadmill in the last picture looking back.

This is the awesome playroom and door to the bonus craft room which is a very large closet or very small room, however you view it. I view it as all mine!!!

Looking from the treadmill corner again back toward the stairs and hallway to the bedrooms.

Hallway to the bedrooms.

1st one is Rylie's

2nd one is the bathroom

3rd is the furnace room

4th is the boy's

the one you are looking at straight down the hall is the storage room.

Rylie's room.

She gets to sleep on an air matress until we buy her something else.

The boy's room.

Mason on top.

Zach on bottom.

We love having a two car garage.

No more frosty windshields!!!!

The view from the front door.

LOTS of SNOW!

The view out the back door and our backyard with swing set!

LOTS of SNOW!!!!

Good bye Gillette

We have decided to try out a new state and the luck winner is North Dakota.

We moved out of Wyoming New Year's Eve and into North Dakota New Year's Day. What a way to start the New Year. I have decided I don't need to make any New Year's resolutions because they are all about a fresh start and we are starting about as fresh as you get. New job, new house, new town, almost a new baby, new schools, new stay at home mom. I think I will just focus of making all those new items work out well for everyone.

We were very sad to leave a wonderful ward, but I think we have jumped into an equally great one. The week before we left I had two days of packing planned. (I had already packed the majority of our stuff before Christmas). One day of loading, one day of driving and one day of unpacking planned. Then our friends from Gillette decided to get sealed in the middle of that week. While I was grateful they were doing it much sooner and we could go, it also meant giving up a whole packing day because the temple was of course in Billings (a 3 1/2 hour drive both ways). I am so glad we didn't stay home to pack it was the most special temple experience I have ever had and so worth the entire day. I as so glad we were able to be there with them.

The next day I was close to a melt down and called some ward members. Thankfully Sister Allen and Chris were willing to give some serious service and came to help. She packed my whole kitchen while I ran around and packed odds and ends. Chris shoveled the sidewalk in freezing temperatures. Without those two I never would have made in time. Then of course there were those priesthood holders who came and on the coldest Gillette day ever, packed the Uhaul. I did end up hiring some labor help and all together we had 9 people and were loaded in 2 1/2 hours. Then Sister Pope helped by providing a hotel room in Bismarck for us the next day so we could relax before moving in.

The Uhaul did break down 2 hours away from Bismarck, but really it wasn't a problem. The biggest pain was Jacob having to wait 2 hours for the nearest tow truck to come from Bismarck and tow the Uhaul to our house. When we were all unpack we called again and they came to tow it away.

I had hired laborers to help in Bismark, but that morning 9 guys from our ward just showed up and had us unpacked before the laborers even arrived. It was soooo cold. 0 degrees and windy. They were all so energetic and excited for us to be there I didn't even hear a minute of complaint. Then we had meals and people calling to check on us the next few days.

Now that we are all unpacked and feeling more at home I hope we get the chance to repay some of the service we have received the past few weeks.

In honor of leaving our Gillette house I thought I would post a couple pictures of the finished bathroom Jacob did. I love how it turned out.

Christmas morning 2010

We partied too long and late Christmas Eve to open pajamas before bed. Instead they were lined up oldest to youngest down the stairs Christmas morning. Everyone had to change into their new jammies before opening presents. Thanks Nana and Grandpa for the cute new Pj's.

Savoring the moment.

No that is NOT his pink chair-it is Olivia's.

He loved it though and sat in it whenever she wasn't.

Santa's smallest elf and biggest elf.

My dad always hands out the presents from under the tree and this year he had a very interested helper. Not only did he hand out presents, but he could help unwrap them as well!

My dad had 3 or 4 of these hats he handed out Christmas morning. Mason wore his the next two days straight. When he was helping me set the table he announced he was Santa. Whenever I said, "Mason can you . . ." He would calmly but insistently reply, "you mean Santa." This repeated about 5 times until I finally focused and remembered to say "Santa" not Mason. When I did he gave me the biggest grin of happiness that I remembered and would play along.

Adventures at Targhee

As always we went skiing at Targhee during Christmas in Idaho. This year Rylie and Mason went to a ski lesson for the afternoon. My mom volunteered to watch Zach while I went out for a run or two. I was 6 months pregnant so I was planning on an easy run or two to just enjoy being out on the mountain. On the second time down I was standing up after resting for a minute and my binding snapped. Jacob and I were very near the top. We decided it would be easier to go back up and maybe ride the lift down than try to walk all the way down. Tanner passed overhead in the lift and Jacob yelled to send someone down to help us. The climb up was very difficult with a 6 month belly, but we made it and there was a first aid worker waiting for us at the top. She said she would have to take me down in the toboggan instead of riding the lift.
I have always wanted to ride one, but not be seriously hurt and after that ride I don't ever want to ride one with a broken limb or other injury. It was the bumpiest, scariest ride ever. We turned to go off a cat track and she disappeared down the hill and I was still up very high in the sled waiting and waiting to go over the edge. It took about 20 feet to stop us when I did come off the edge. I was very grateful when it was over and I could get off.
Hopefully next year's token ski trip will have more skiing and less sledding for me.

Rylie was the skiing machine.

By the end of the day she had mastered going up and down the magic carpet beginner hill completely by herself.

Mason enjoyed it, but said he cried, "A lot" when Nana asked how it was. His teacher said, "you only cried when that boy threw snow in your face."

So maybe the skiing was ok, but making new friends was not.

His class took 2 hot chocolate breaks-how hard could it have been.

The master lodge man.

He was not feeling 100% and only wanted mom. Some of his babysitters had to be very creative to distract him while I was out riding the first aid toboggan.

Cute story about Rylie and Mason

I have a funny story to share about Rylie and Mason. The other day we were reading in the Friend about a family who went camping and there was a thunderstorm. The little boy was scared and his mom helped him say a prayer that the storm would move away. Soon after the prayer the thunder became softer and farther away and the little boy was so happy Heavenly Father had answered his prayer. A couple days later the kids suited up to go sledding outside. It was probably 5* and very windy, but they insisted on going. We have a hill on the side of our house that is the perfect size for independant 4 and 6 year old sledding. They came back in about 30 minutes later and said it was too cold. Mason said Rylie had said a prayer that the storm would move away so they could play outside and not freeze. He had the saddest look on his face when he explained that Heavenly Father didn't answer his prayer. I had to explain that our prayers are not always answered the way we want them to be and that sometimes there might be other people nearby praying for a storm for some reason. That night when Mason said the prayer at dinner he added, "Please don't let anyone be praying for a storm tomorrow."
I love how little minds grasp new things and see how they use it in their little world.